Forester diamond men hold on for twinbill sweep

The Huntington University baseball team survived a late rally by host Goshen College in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday, April 20, winning 3-2, to get a sweep on the day..

Cody Walters threw a two-hit shutout and Blake Ayers had three hits as the Foresters, 9-19 and 9-9 in the Crossroads League, pounded the Maple Leafs in the opener, 9-0.

Hits came at a premium in game two as Huntington's Kyle Zerfas and Goshen's Spencer Oversen dueled on the pitcher's mound. Zerfas limited the Maple Leafs to five pokes while Oversen held the Foresters to just two.

Huntington, however, made the most of its chances. Adam Christner doubled to right-center in the first inning Ayers brought him home a batter later on a groundout, giving the Foresters the early 1-0 lead.

The contest stayed scoreless until the top of the fifth, when Huntington got its other smack against Oversen, a Josh Lanphier single that kicked off the inning. Things unraveled further for the Goshen hurler after that, as Lanphier advanced to second on a wild pitch and Brian Kirschbaum reached base on one of only two walks that Oversen issued for the game.

A wild throw by Oversen following a Bryce Anderson bunt led to Lanphier scoring, Kirschbaum taking third and Anderson reaching second. Brock Gower brought home Kirschbaum after that on a sacrifice fly to right. Oversen got the next two Forester batters out, but the damage had already been done as Huntington pushed its lead to 3-0.

Zerfas had a 1-2-3 inning in the Maple Leafs' half of the fifth, but ran out of gas like his Goshen counterpart when he took the mound in the bottom of the sixth, after Oversen's relief, Zach Thompson, held the Foresters scoreless.

The Maple Leafs banged out three singles against Zerfas, with the third one by Bryan Aponte plating Matt Austin. Goshen picked up another run on a fielder's choice, but Kirschbaum came on to get the next two batters to snuff the rally.

Matt Austin and Bryan Aponte each had two hits for the Maple Leafs, 3-26, 2-24 in the Crossroads league, with the latter recording an RBI.

Zerfas' 5.1 innings of work got him the win while Oversen took the loss.

Huntington had a lopsided pitching advantage in the first game as Walters went the distance for the Foresters and ceded only two hits while Alex Mosbarger surrendered 11 for the Maple Leafs.

Huntington took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Jamon Hammel singled to left-center, bringing home Ayers. The scoring flood gates, however, opened in the top of the seventh for the Foresters when they torched Mosbarger for six hits and eight runs, pushing their lead to an overwhelming 9-0, which stood up.

Anderson, Marc Bowers and Jordan Klopfenstein led Huntington two RBI apiece, and Gower and Lanphier added two hits and and an RBI apiece.